Prime Minister Netanyahu thanked Fire and Rescue Service workers on Thursday for their service throughout the recent wars and fires throughout Israel. "We rained down fire there, and you put out the fire here. Thank you very much. Indeed, everything that has been said here - it is all true. Every word is true and etched in stone. Every word is true. You entered the fire. That is what one does on the battlefield - you enter the fire, from Be'er Sheva to Haifa, and in general. We have a firefighting service to be proud of," he added.
His remarks come in light of more than a year and a half of incredible challenges. Along with many other emergency services, Israeli firefighters have been put to a series of tests since the war began. In addition to providing regular firefighting responses, the Fire and Rescue service has faced unique challenges in keeping Israel safe, and meets them with a growing combination of technology, training, and cooperative efforts. This has become especially important with the beginning of Operation Rising Lion, which saw the need for rescue work on a scale rarely seen in Israeli cities.
What challenges do Israel's firefighters face - and how have they kept up their heroic efforts through nearly 21 months of war?
Fire and Fighting:
Gaza:
Beginning with the Gaza border, the Fire and Rescue service faced a different set of challenges in each region of Israel. In the Gaza region, there was a significant threat of attacks by Hamas even before the war began, and there were several cases where firefighters needed to take precautions against Hamas missile or sniper fire. Incendiary balloons and kites launched from the Gaza Strip burned thousands of acres of agricultural and forest lands from 2018 onwards, and the only effective way to combat them was found to be manual extinguishing.
When the war broke out, several firefighters were killed in action attempting to reach fires started by Hamas shelling during the October 7th massacre. Even later in the war, fires started by falling rockets or interceptor debris continued to pose the combined threat of chemical flames from rocket components and unexploded ordnance.
As part of the ground offensive into Gaza, Israeli troops have faced firefighting challenges unique to war zones. Buildings can be ignited by shelling, as a trap against troops stationed inside, or for use as a diversion - all things requiring a firefighting response unlike any in civilian life.
The North:
As Operation Northern Arrows began, northern firefighters faced serious geographical challenges - many towns in the mountains of Israel's north have limited access, the roads were pre-sighted by Hezbollah, and the mountainous terrain made it difficult for firefighters to reach different towns quickly despite being relatively close as the crow flies. The Galilee and Golan regions are also home to significantly more vegetation than the Gaza border, creating a drastically higher risk of fire spreading from one town to the next, and damaging infrastructure along the way.
Judea and Samaria
During Operation Walls of Iron in Judea and Samaria, the arson of large tracts of agricultural land became a more frequent problem. These fires move quickly over fields of grazing grass or grain and can spread across wide areas in little time, rapidly threatening Israeli homesteads and towns throughout the region. Some of these towns do not yet have proper roadways or water infrastructure established, making it impossible to bring fire engines to the scene and requiring firefighters to move through rough terrain on foot.
Forest and Brush Fires
Along with the beginning of Operation Gideon's Chariots, there began a spate of fires in the forests around Jerusalem. These have been widely suspected to be arson, although the authorities have not yet confirmed these suspicions. The fires raced through the dense forests and rapidly threatened major cities and highways, including on Israel's Independence Day.
Operation Rising Lion
The onset of Operation Rising Lion and the ensuing missile attacks from Iran have brought the latest chapter in firefighting challenges. In addition to putting out the fires started by missile strikes or interceptor debris, rescue services now face the task of searching a collapsed or damaged building on a scale commonly associated with seismic events. Tons of concrete and steel must be moved, and the hazardous materials in buildings, such as gas or sewage, must be negotiated as part of the firefighting effort.
The Few
Countering these challenges requires several thousand firefighters throughout Israel. Ynet reported in 2023 that despite the service employing between two and three thousand paid firefighters and an additional volunteer corps, Israel is actually at a significant shortage of firefighters.
This problem is compounded by the fact that not all paid firefighters are field personnel - training, administration, and maintenance workers for the Fire and Rescue Service are all included in the official number.
The Swords of Iron war has likewise lowered the ranks of available firefighters, with many being drawn out for reserve service and the National Security Ministry, which includes the Fire and Rescue Service, heavily emphasizing the recruitment of police officers and prison guards instead.
Special Forces
Like many emergency response forces throughout Israel, the Fire and Rescue Service maintains specialist units to tackle particular challenges. Among the most well known is the firefighting air department, which uses planes and helicopters to attack fires that cannot be fought from the ground alone - they may be out of reach, over to wide an area, too large and dangerous to approach, or moving too quickly for ground forces to keep up. The iconic Elad firefighting squadron, with its bright yellow airplanes, is a staple of Israeli firefighting coverage all over Israel.
Another special unit in the service, known as Lehava, focuses on special rescue situations such as working at heights, on the water, or from underground. The unit's recruitment process is considered one of the most physically demanding in the service and includes overcoming challenges recreated from real rescue situations. The training involved is highly diverse, including skill sets such as rappelling, use of rescue tools, diving, aerial insertion, and high-level emergency medicine.
The IDF has confirmed the existence of a new firefighting unit called Lapid, created to meet the unique demands of firefighting in combat zones or involving military vehicles, fuel, or munitions. The unit has reportedly been working to clear hazards in Gaza and Lebanon to allow IDF forces to safely advance. Most recently, it was reported to have been activated to extinguish a fire caused by a misguided Israeli shoulder-launched missile. Firefighters in this unit may be embedded with IDF heavy machine teams such as tanks or engineering vehicles, where a fire can threaten the lives of the entire crew within if not extinguished in short order.
High Heat, High Tech
As with many national challenges, Israel has fought fire with a series of technological advances brought on by rapid, painful experience. Israeli engineers learn lessons from previous fires and national emergencies, such as wars or storm damage, to improve upon existing tools; for example, the aerospace contractor Elbit used lessons learned from the IAF to bring more accurate payload delivery technology to firefighting planes. Another such invention involved the introduction of UAVs to detect and monitor fires without the need for a pilot to be present around the clock. Israeli companies have also designed special payloads to improve accuracy and reduce environmental impact.
A new firefighting system in some areas of Israel combines several different layers of technology to more effectively monitor a larger area. These can mean using terrestrial cameras, aircraft, and even satellite imagery to spot fires quickly and alert all the relevant regions at once. As AI becomes more reliable, Israeli programmers have been teaching computers to analyze a fire's size and surroundings to create predictions of its speed, direction, and weak points to better coordinate an attack on the fire.
Israel has also developed a number of specialty vehicles for firefighting operations. One prominent example is the retrofitting of several different kinds of civilian vehicles as fire engines loading them with hoses, a water tank and compressor, and rescue equipment. This allows Israel to field firefighting vehicles without the need to purchase entirely new fire engines.
Another such innovation is the creation of firefighting trailers. Each includes a flatbed trailer loaded with a water tank, compressor, and limited amount of hoses and rescue equipment. These can be moved by nearly any civilian vehicle with a compatible hitch, and are ubiquitous throughout more remote regions of Israel to allow civilian emergency squads to launch firefighting operations on their own and prevent the fire from spreading until a fire engine arrives.
Software can be used to track people as well, not just the fire. If the fire requires additional forces or the evacuation of civilians from an area, Israeli firms have developed programs to allow the rapid mobilization and tracking of firefighters, current lists of individuals in each area, and status reports for any given individual affected to let rescuers know who is in trouble and who is safe already. Some of these programs do not even need to be installed on the victim's phone, and are instead activated by tapping into a local cellular network.
These advanced technologies are not available to every region or for every incident, of course. In Judea and Samaria in particular, where dense urban areas are less common, firefighters often find themselves battling with surprisingly low-tech equipment such as rubber fire beaters to slap at the flames or leaf blowers to blow out an impinging fire.
Never Alone
Cooperation with other forces is key to the Fire and Rescue Service's approach to many emergencies. Few incidents go by without the participation of the Israel Police for traffic control and perimeter security, or the MDA and United Hazalah for medical treatment.
Individual municipalities will frequently send municipal workers to assess damage and provide social services to those displaced, offering a familiar support network that makes evacuations and recovery easier. In areas that have a local civilian emergency squad, firefighters will be helped by local volunteers to locate every individual and to get a more thorough understanding of the scene.
In Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley regions, there is a significant trend of civilian volunteers from neighboring towns or farms joining the firefighting effort, using the aforementioned low-tech firefighting implements, agricultural tools, or even local irrigation systems. Although these volunteers often have little professional training or protective equipment, they are frequently seen arriving in the hundreds to protect any Israeli town threatened by fire.
In Israel's forested areas, the JNF and the Nature and Parks Authority can be seen bringing specialist gear to the scene. This might include forestry tools to create a firebreak, equipment to provide telemetry for firefighting aircraft, or a specially outfitted fire truck known as a Ya'aron to traverse rough terrain. The JNF's cooperation extends beyond just working in the field, too - as a significant partner in Israel's national forest management, it serves as the official fundraising body for the Fire and Rescue Service.
If there is a hazardous material spill, the firefighters may enlist the help of Israel's port authorities. Sea and air ports have dedicated firefighting forces equipped to fight the unusual kinds of fire that can result from commercial cargos or fuels, which make them well-suited to containing hazardous materials. Although the service maintains its own such teams, they may require assistance if the spill is big enough.
Many fires attract visits from political figures, including the Prime Minister and the President, creating the need for careful coordination with the ISA. Similar coordination may be needed if the fire encroaches on important governmental areas or security installations. ISA investigators have also been working with fire marshals recently, as the suspicions of arson as a form of terrorism have mounted.
The IDF lends the support of several different corps to firefighting. The Home Front Command maintains a corps of firefighters under the IDF, as does the Air Force. The Air Force may also use military aircraft to attack the fire or provide logistical support. The Signalling Corps, Logistical Corps, Military Police, Medical Corps, and Engineering Corps can all play roles in a large-scale firefighting effort.
For the most serious fires, it has recently been necessary to call for international assistance. The requests are primarily handled by the Foreign or Defense ministries, and can bring foreign firefighters, aircraft, and supplies to Israel to help halt the fire. A premier example of this is in the Emergency Volunteer Project, which trains and deploys volunteers to disaster areas and aids the local civilians during and after crisis, as well as to support the local emergency services during times of emergency. For firefighting in particular, the project helps connect active, professional firefighters in other countries with Israeli fire stations, bringing volunteer firefighters from around the world to assist in Israel's civil defense.
Israel makes a point of reciprocating these calls to friendly countries, and has a lengthy history of sending firefighters or Home Front Command soldiers to disaster areas in other countries that have asked for foreign assistance. Some examples have included earthquake zones in Haiti, Turkey, and Morocco, the building collapse in Miami, and firefighting in Greece and Cyprus.
Facing The Future
With fires coming more frequently and reaching proportions well beyond those seen in past years, the Fire and Rescue Service is sure to need to grow and adapt to keep up. Although they receive less attention than security services, there can be no doubt that Israel's firefighters and firefighting services are essential to a safe and secure state.